1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a shower arm assembly for mounting a hand-held shower head on a wall of the shower surround. More particularly the invention relates to a shower arm assembly having a 3 dimensional and flexible adjustment of the position of the shower head in relation to the connection point on the wall where the flexible hose of the shower head is attached, without damaging the wall and without the use of any tools.
2. Description of Related Art
Whether bathing in the shower stall or in the bath tub typically a person stands in the shower and is sprayed with water through a shower head, which is attached to a shower pipe extending from the central plumbing. A shower head directly attached to a shower pipe is able to be pivoted about the attachment to the shower pipe to provide a certain degree of movement to control the direction of the shower spray. The movement of the shower head is limited to pivotal movement about the connection point to the shower pipe and cannot be translated in any direction.
An improvement to the adjustability of the standard shower head includes the development of the hand held shower head. The hand held shower head includes a flexible hose attached to the shower pipe and a shower head having a handle attachment to the opposite end of the flexible hose. The hand held shower head is typically mounted on a bracket attached to the shower pipe to allow the hand held shower head to be used as a normal shower head, and can normally be pivoted about the attachment of the bracket to the shower pipe. However, the hand held shower head can also be removed from the bracket and held in the desired position with one hand. This allows the user to move the shower head to any desired position however it requires that the user utilize one hand to hold the shower head.
Further developments in shower head positioning includes shower pipe extensions, which include one or more rigid links having one end pivotally attached to the shower pipe and the other end pivotally attached to the shower head, or to another rigid link. The links are typically elongated rigid hoses and allow for limited movement in vertical and lateral directions. The movement is limited by the length of the rigid links and the direction of the movement allowed by the pivotal joints between the links. This type of a rigid link structure often leaks at the joints and can become loose and fail to hold the desired position.
Frequently, adjustable mounts are used in combination with hand-held shower heads to permit the level of the shower head to be lowered from a typical wall mounted shower head level for use by children and disabled. The adjustability of the mount permits the shower head to be changed as the children grow to accommodate their increasing height, and permits temporary repositioning of the shower head when persons of differing heights use the shower. Once the children grow the mounts are usually removed from the shower wall to restore the shower to its original appearance and condition. In the past, removal often damaged the surround because the supports were attached to the wall with semi-permanent means as described above.
There is missing in the art where a shower head assembly allows the variable positioning of the shower head in three dimensions and with any desired distance from the wall and with minimal exposure and space requirement in the shower taking space, while leaving the user with two free hands. It is to overcome the shortcomings in the prior art that the present invention was developed.